Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Could you really be anywhere else but the London Borough of Waltham Forest? “One of the leading local authorities in London in its commitment to introducing cycling facilities” – facilities which it can’t be bothered to protect, maintain or develop, and which are reflected in a perpetually stagnating modal share for cycling of just one per cent.

What likely was the first serious automobile/pedestrian accident in La Crosse occurred Aug. 15, 1907, at Fourth and Main streets.

Timothy Lewis, 76, a Civil War veteran who ran a popcorn and cigar stand at the corner of Fourth and Main streets, had just gotten off the streetcar on Main Street and was walking toward his stand when he was struck by a Cadillac driven by Henry Sharp. The impact of the collision sent Lewis flying into a cart belonging to a street sweeper.

Monday, 30 August 2010

On my way back from the Redbridge Sky Ride I took a look at Wanstead High Street, which has been in the local press as a cycling-on-the-pavement hotspot.

And you can see the difficulty. It would be nice to put in a segregated Dutch-style cycle path here but as any top LCC cycling campaigner will tell you there just isn’t the space in London.

(Below) Assen in the Netherlands. But as one seasoned campaigner quite rightly observes on the CTC discussion thread, “To compare the UK to the Continent is not helpful to the argument. Continental roads are very different to UK roads. Even the cities are differently laid out.” Even worse, they don’t speak English.

I hate cycling on Oxford Street (it’s a sewer for taxis and buses). And I hate walking on Oxford Street, because the pedestrians, who vastly outnumber all other road users, are pushed to the sides. Every time I’m on Oxford Street I want to shout “take over the road, people!” but I know if I did they’d just think I’d forgotten to take my medication.

Oxford Street should have been pedestrianised years ago and its continuing pathological condition is symptomatic of the medieval state of British transport policy. Trams are much, much better than buses. And it’s grotesque that anyone is allowed to drive a private car in central London.

Tesco despises cyclists. There are no less than ten bicycles visible in the picture above, which shows the giant Tesco near the Green Man, Leytonstone. There might have been eleven but I decided to take my money elsewhere. Tight-fisted Tesco supply just four bike stands.

One interesting question is why did the Planning Committee of the London Borough of Waltham Forest grant Tesco planning permission for a massive supermarket with extensive car parking but provision for only four bike stands? And really cheap, crap stands they are, too. (The covered shelter in the background is for supermarket carts. Tesco is more interested in keeping them dry from the rain than supplying shelter for parked bikes.)

Ian Tompkins, 51, from Netheravon, was cycling on an unclassified road between Enford and Fittleton, near Amesbury, when the accident occurred at about 0930 BST. He was taken to Salisbury District Hospital with internal injuries and died in the early hours of Friday

Rosa Racer. This is a firm which has been promoting itself in the press recently as some kind of a 'green' messiah because they say they assemble bicycles in Walthamstow from bits made abroad. Apparently they should get a medal for this, not because someone local is being kept off the dole (there is no evidence for this), but because they are an 'eco' business.

the guy helping them with their self promotion in the Guardian, a writer called Simon Munk

is a leading light in the Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign and its Movers & Shakers coordinator, the Movers & Shakers document being something I have plunged my hatchet into on a number of occasions – see this and this and this and this.

JULY 2010Crashed Range Rover into shop in Hamptead. Arrested and tested for drugs. CHARGED

AUGUST 2009Arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs after crashing into the back of a lorry on the A34 in Berkshire. Breathalysed and held for almost five hours. NO ACTION

OCTOBER 2006Found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes in north London. Pleaded guilty to driving while unfit. Banned for two years and handed 100 hours community service. Also cautioned for possession of cannabis. PLEADED GUILTY

APRIL 2006Allegedly crashed his Mercedes into three parked cars near his north London home. Interviewed under caution but not charged. NO ACTION

FEBRUARY 2006Arrested for possession of a Class C drug after being found asleep at the wheel at Hyde Park Corner. Later said it was 'my own stupid fault as usual' CAUTIONED

"It's plain and simple that helmets are effective," Ms Lee continues. "If you think of people who have mobile phones, computers, I bet they all have covers on to protect them. You have a skull protecting your brain and if you know anything about computers you know that if you damage a computer you can't load the programme. That's exactly the same with your brain."

Yes, exactly. So to avoid any confusion ALL cyclists MUST wear a computer dust cover AND a helmet, as demonstrated above by Sam, whose chances of getting a job as an extra on the next Star Wars movie are now very much improved. Cyclists, if you do not do this AT ONCE your BRAIN is at risk and you may end up becoming VERY, VERY CONFUSED.

What do mean, the helmet straps aren’t done up? I have looked very carefully at the Bike Helmet Initiative Trust website and all it says is to put a helmet on your head. I can’t see anywhere that says you have to do the straps up.

Let me repeat a question I asked earlier in the month. Why are drivers being allowed to get away with parking for hours at a time in Rosebank Villas E17, across the pedestrian zone which forms the main passenger route to and from the High Street leading to Walthamstow bus station? This is a high profile area for parking enforcement. None of the vehicles involved is displaying a blue badge and the sign is very clear that no parking is permitted at all between 10am and 4pm, which is the time slot when I photographed these offenders on 23, 25 and 26 August.

"The barrier had only been down for a matter of seconds and I cycled across immediately. It came up without warning, catching my back wheel, and I was catapulted off my bike. The next thing I remember was waking to hear my daughter, Serena, screaming and a member of our cycling club calling for an ambulance."

"The road barrier that caused my injuries had no audio or visual warnings for cyclists or walkers – it merely had a sign for cars, but nothing stated the possible danger for those crossing it.

Sara Heppenstall for Russell Jones and Walker representing Mr Westerman, said: "The barrier Mr Westerman rode over had no clear signage stating the time in which pedestrians or cyclists had to cross safely. The result is Mr Westerman has had to have extensive surgery to set his shoulder and neck, taking significant time off work. Cases like this highlight that the safety of all road-users must be a priority for the authorities, not just drivers.

I was cycling along Forest Road (A503) heading west and I’d just passed the junction with Palmerston Road E17, when white van reg. LS07WJM swerved into the cycle lane (which is very narrow at this point) giving me a moment of sheer blind terror. 26 August, 10.46 am. It’s the kind of moment which cyclists with head cams regularly post on YouTube. On the back of the van it said First Impressions.

I was cycling along Forest Road (A503) heading west when I had a moment of sheer blind terror as the driver of a huge black 4X4 reg. MJ56 MVH overtook me and cut right across in front of me to turn left along Shernhall Street. 3.05pm, 15 August.

This is not the first time I’ve encountered a mobility scooter in a local cycle lane. What’s wrong with these rogue scooter anarchists? Surely they don’t think that Waltham Forest's footways are uneven and dangerous?

Yet more evidence that as long as Britain’s cycling organisations continue to embrace and promote the philosophy of vehicular cycling, cycling is going nowhere. At best you will achieve a small rise in commuter cycling by hardcore cyclists, who will mostly be male, will ride alone, and be aged 25-45.

Scottish Government figures published this week showed the proportion of people cycling increased by just 0.1 per cent last year to 2.4 per cent, against 1.7 per cent in 1999.

Overall, only about 1-2 per cent of Scots cycle, although Edinburgh leads the way at 6 per cent, with 4 per cent in Aberdeen and 2 per cent in Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness.

This is well behind much of Europe, whose leaders include 55 per cent of people cycling in Groningen in the Netherlands, and 30 per cent in Copenhagen. Even in the UK, cycling rates used to be far higher, with 15 per cent of people in the saddle in the 1950s.

I tried hard to just treat it as a fun day out on the bike, but I’m afraid that I couldn’t help thinking just how little it all had to do with promoting cycling. Really, I know that sounds awful, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that’s going to persuade people to get out of their cars and ride their bikes next week when all the marshals have gone home and all the barriers have been taken down.

Worse, this kind of blog just brings out all the other whingers:

And I thought I was the only one curmudgeonly enough to resent the corralling, the frequent stops for the important people in cars and the absurd preponderance of highly questionable safety equipment.

When they aren’t forcing child cyclists off the road the borough’s crap refuse collectors are leaving emptied wheelie bins in front of cycle stands… I think they need a spot of re-education. Pretoria Avenue E17, yesterday.

I spotted an Anderson Roofing vehicle being driven south on Hoe Street E17 (A112), the male driver steering with one hand while chatting on a handheld mobile phone. Yesterday, 10.42 am.

I couldn’t be bothered to chase after the driver to get the number as I was going in the other direction. It wasn’t a standard white van, more a van with a little cherry picker attachment on top. Anderson Roofing boast that they belong to the Trusted Tradesmen scheme, whatever that may be. Plainly it doesn’t encompass obeying road traffic law.

Crikey, I hope no one is going to suggest that all these speed camera cuts are going to give drivers the idea they can belt along motorways at excessive speed, driving much too close to the vehicle in front. Because, after all, they do that anyway!

A statement released by Devon and Cornwall Police said: "At 9pm 26th August 2010 Devon and Cornwall Police received a call to a multiple vehicle traffic accident two miles south of junction 28 on the M5 northbound near Cullompton. Fire service and Ambulance were also attending.

"On arrival the M5 Northbound was closed. Eight vehicles were involved in this accident. Several persons were trapped in their vehicles and had to be cut out by Fire Crew. The M5 southbound was also closed to allow Air Ambulance and a helicopter from RMB Chivenor to land to ferry casualties to RDE Hospital Exeter.

As you might expect from Waltham Forest Council, since then nothing at all has happened. Nothing at all. Nuffink. Zilch. Rien.

But is it really the case that a council has to apply to a magistrate’s court to remove an obviously abandoned bike from a stand? I would have thought it possessed the powers to remove unauthorised and obstructive street materiel without going through such a cumbersome procedure.

Cycling campaigners are always fretting about the image of cycling. Me, I think prolonged scenes like this send out a very clear message that cycling today is a neglected wreck.

Incidentally the motorbike which is shown locked to the bike stand in my original blog post continues to be parked here (it was there yesterday, for example) even though the parking attendants should be giving it a ticket for footway parking.

Too many drivers occupy the cyclists’ Advanced Stop Line. This G4S driver has respected it by parking beyond it, at the same time helping pedestrians to develop their road crossing skills at a major junction. The Baker’s Arms junction, on the border of Leyton and Walthamstow.

It was a very bright day and I was probably doing about 16mph. I never saw the barrier and it was not until I hit it that I realised it was there. I can’t believe it is painted grey and has no warning sign.”

Consumers are getting more confident about committing to car-buying, according to a survey today. Would-be purchasers are prepared to spend a total of £51 billion on new or used cars over the next six months

Sainsbury's Finance head of loans Steven Baillie said: We've been conducting our car-buying index for the past seven years and our findings would indicate that the numbers looking to purchase a car are certainly starting to pick up again.

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

The danger of pavement cycling and why cyclists should never cycle on the pavement was vividly brought home to me yesterday.

Why no one should never ever cycle on the pavement can be summed up in one word: lorries. The danger that lorries pose to cyclists is well known, yet many cyclists seem to forget this when cycling on the pavement. Lorry drivers often drive on pavements and it is all too easy for a pavement cyclist irresponsibly to enter the lorry driver’s ‘blind spot’.

Yesterday afternoon the driver of this Mercedes HGV lorry reg. YK04 FRN drove on to the pavement on Cleveland Park Avenue E17, at the junction with High Street (below). He parked there and went off down the High Street. A careless cyclist could so easily have collided with the lorry, which would have raised that all important question: was the cyclist wearing a helmet?

Half an hour later, on Leyton Green Road, I was admiring the magnificent cycling infrastructure when suddenly the driver of this SS Builders Merchants lorry (no, not an old established Third Reich construction company but a local firm with premises in both Leyton and Walthamstow) swerved onto the pavement and roared along it rather than wait for oncoming traffic. In the third snap (below) you can see the driver re-entering the carriageway, forced there by a pavement cyclist, a ‘hoodie’, who for some reason is wilfully ignoring the splendid cycle lane, presumably on the selfish grounds that the said cycle lane is full of legally parked cars. Do take time to pause and admire the nearest stretch of pink, cycling-friendly London Cycle Network infrastructure in the third photo.

The other day I was in London’s most successful cycling borough, Hackney, and I am pleased to be able to report that progressive Hackney has finally cracked the enduring problem of how to stop pavement cycling. The solution is easy when you think about it. Yes, simply allow cars to park entirely on the pavement and the menace of pavement cycling is extinguished forever. Cadogan Terrace E9.

Whether you are a novice or an experienced cyclist, this excellent short new training programme will help you develop the essential skills required for cycling in London. Particularly recommended for cyclists using the King’s Cross gyratory, the Aldwych gyratory or Marble Arch.

In cycling-friendly Redbridge I came across this marvellous example of ‘shared use’ on the Southend Road (A1400). Simply stick up a sign allowing cyclists to ride on the pavement and watch as they develop their skills in avoiding both bipeds and traffic sign poles. Disappointingly, I didn’t encounter any pedestrians or cyclists on this marvellous piece of infrastructure. Why, it’s almost as if normal people prefer to use cars rather than walk or cycle!

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

My missing-three-hours-of-sleep foul mood is not helped by doing a detour through Walthamstow where a woman on the High Street calls me a 'fat cow'.

The outer roads look like some early 1950s dystopian nightmare of future vehicle use where everyone has a car and everyone drives every day. Given that oil is a finite resource, I rather feel that petrol for private cars should be rationed. No wonder the Waltham Forest cyclist is always in a grump.

A sombre warning to all those cyclists in Chester who have been misusing their invisibility cloaks:

CYCLISTS who flout traffic laws in Chester are being warned to get their act together or risk prosecution.

City officials have revealed they plan to crack down on bike users who break the law following several reports of near-collisions on roads across the city centre.

Cyclists are being reminded they are bound by the Highway Code just as any other road user. They are told never to jump red lights, ride on pavements, pedestrian crossings or ride the wrong way in one-way streets.

In addition, they must think ahead, stay visible and move over when it is safe and convenient.

Ministers are set to reject an official report calling for the drink drive limit to be halved, the Evening Standard has learned.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is expected to rule that it would be too damaging to rural pubs despite evidence that tougher laws would save hundreds of lives. An insider said: “The minister is very sceptical indeed about this idea. He is far from convinced that it would be a good thing.”

Mr Hammond, a Conservative and motoring enthusiast, greeted Sir Peter's report as “a serious piece of work” but delayed a decision so that he could find out what his chums in the booze industry thought of it.

[Woops! – that last sentence should finish ‘so that he could commission research into the likely impact on beleaguered country pubs.’]

Monday, 23 August 2010

This is where a driver ‘lost control’ on Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow, in the process running down two pedestrians, demolishing a bus stop and three brick walls, and colliding with a house, causing serious structural damage.

The driver was evidently going at excessive speed (this is supposed to be a 30 mph zone) and was presumably driving the kind of large vehicle with airbags (a 4X4, say) which allows the driver to emerge from spectacular wreckage like this unscathed. The driver then apparently did a runner.

Blackhorse Road is a road I generally avoid cycling on. It has high volumes of traffic, often moving at speed (much faster than on traffic-light-dotted Hoe Street) and some drivers get very impatient at being delayed by a cyclist. It forms part of the A1006. In the Leyton section of this 'A' road they also have a problem with drivers ‘losing control’, which is why you can see steel crash barriers at the roadside, cleverly located alongside the cycle lane. Parking is squeezed in wherever possible.

William Slack of Cambridge, saw our photograph, from 1948, of two be-shorted sporty gals pausing with their bikes by a country road, and immediately recognised it. "The two girl cyclists were not members of a cycling club, but were used by the cameraman Charles 'Slim' Hewitt to 'sex up' an article in Picture Post. I was working there at the time and had suggested a feature on my cycling club, the Becontree Wheelers. Slim Hewitt followed us from Dagenham into deepest Kent, but when the pictures were developed, the editors thought they weren't glamorous enough. So two girls from the office were persuaded to be taken by Slim to near Box Hill, where they were photographed. I would be surprised if they had cycled more than a few yards for the shot."

We must defend to the bitter end our right to cycle among lorries, buses and BMW drivers and be knocked down by them. We must tell the majority who are frightened of cycling to get a grip on themselves (especially women). We must quote statistics at them to prove that is scientifically safe to cycle. And we must

All part of the rich tapestry of life in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. A figure slumped behind the cycle stands in the Town Square by the children’s playground, being attended to by the emergency services. A male in his twenties. Apparently not shot or stabbed, displaying the symptoms of being conscious but unable to stand. Saturday. No police turned up, so evidently not the aftermath of a crime.

Recorded cycling injuries in the London Borough of Waltham Forest increased significantly in 2009.

Oddly enough the same thing happened in faraway Kingston, Surrey:

Latest figures show Kingston’s cyclists are facing increasing danger on main roads. In 2009, nine cyclists suffered serious injuries on the Borough’s roads, while sixty minor injuries were reported, a rise of 17 from 2008.

There was also a growth in injuries sustained by motorcyclists but, while it makes bleak reading for two-wheel fans, there is brighter news for other road users.

Sunday, 22 August 2010

My photo shows an Advanced Stop Line at the junction of Leeman Road and Station Road, York, looking towards Rougier Street, photographed from the city walls.

Along comes a bendy bus.

The driver has stopped his wheels outside the ASL but the forward part of the bus extends some two metres beyond the wheels. Cycling along beside the bus and squeezing into the ASL along that magnificent cycle lane would be inadvisable. If the lights turned to green while you were doing this the bus would hit you. The death-trap railings on the traffic island would trap you. You would be mangled or crushed.

The railings are there, of course, to serve as a cattle pen for pedestrians, who are allowed a few seconds at green to sprint to this refuge, where they must wait another couple of minutes to cross the rest of the road. Well, we wouldn’t want motor vehicles to be slowed down by pedestrians, would we?

As everybody knows, York is an iconic ‘cycling city’. Onwards with the cycling revolution!

CAMPAIGNERS from the newly-formed Waltham Forest Anti-Cuts Union have criticised council staff for taking photographs of its members as they tried to hand out leaflets in Walthamstow Town Square.

The group, made up of a variety of left-wing activists, union members and even a Labour councillor, have said they will make a formal complaint after an enforcement officer tried to stop their activities during a protest on Saturday (August 14).

And when these pesky protesters aren’t there, the Town Square is a very safe place indeed. Look at the pedestrian as he jerks round in surprise, not expecting to encounter a vehicle approaching him from the rear in a pedestrian zone.

As you can see, this irresponsible pedestrian has forgotten to shout “Three feet please!” at the driver.

Resident Thomas Murphy, 74, was woken by the sound of the crash to find the teen lying injured by his doorstep. He said: "I had just gone to bed when I heard the bang. I came downstairs to see what had happened and one of them was lying in my front garden covered in blood. The ambulance teams were on the scene very quickly and took him off. He didn't look in a good way. I heard another person was thrown into my neighbour's garden too."

Neighbours claim that the driver of the car fled after the crash, which happened near the junction with Coppermill Lane.

Saturday, 21 August 2010

On the Redbridge Sky Ride I picked up a copy of the borough’s lovely leaflet about why walking is good for you. One of the reasons given is ‘Relieves stress’.

Oh, I don’t think so. The woman with the kids shown on the cover of the leaflet would get quite stressed walking the streets of car-sick Redbridge, where obstructive pavement parking is commonplace. The lawless-driver-friendly council absolutely refuses to deal with it (I know, I’ve tried ringing them up). The car supremacist cops in Redbridge are likewise indifferent to enforcing laws designed to protect pedestrians. It’s an offence to obstruct a footway but Britain's finest couldn’t give a toss.

(Below) Cowley Road

Footnote

Redbridge has some 1,800 streets in comparison with Waltham Forest’s 1,300 but the Conservative council there is far more reluctant to enforce parking restrictions than in Labour Waltham Forest.

Ms Brixey said: "I cannot just stand by while the council puts an axe to vital road safety services that save so many young lives here each year.

They need to know how appalled local communities are about this. Most people fully support cameras and feel safer with them turned on.

"When I heard in the news the Government saying they were ending a 'war on motorists', I thought that all they were doing was enabling people to break the law and endanger lives by speeding.

"What about people's rights to use local streets safely? What about people's right to life? The Government should be prioritising saving lives on our roads not accumulating deaths. The cost of a speed camera does not compare to the cost of a life."

Petrolheads always claim that it’s fairer to enforce speed limits using the police rather than speed cameras. And you can see why:

A senior policewoman clocked speeding is challenging the charge by claiming that the speed gun used by her own force was not accurate. Superintendent Helen Chamberlain, 43, was recorded driving at 79mph on a road with a 50mph limit.

She was given a verbal warning by the officer who stopped her. But a more senior officer disagreed with the decision.

Ian Boddy, defending, said that questions over the accuracy of the speed gun test result would form the basis of her not guilty plea. He added that he would also seek to challenge the process that led to the decision to overrule the initial warning and the quality of traffic signs on the road she was caught on.

But Brian Gunn, prosecuting, said the defence would mean that expert technical witnesses would have to be called. He also raised questions over why the officer failed to challenge the caution she was given when she was initially caught, adding: 'I would want to, under cross examination, ask the defendant why she did not challenge this at the time.'

Last year, a police officer who was caught driving at 98mph in a 50mph zone claimed the speed limit was not enforceable because the signs were not lit. Sergeant Craig Nicholas Jones, an organised crime officer with North Wales Police, was taking a prisoner from Colwyn Bay to Caernarfon when he was stopped. The 40-year-old was fined £500 by Llandudno magistrates, with £1,000 costs.

Which may be because the neighbourhood policing questionnaire has naughty cyclists near the top of the tick box list of ‘anti-social behaviour’ while totally excluding pavement parking, speeding or indeed anything at all done by drivers. Yet the government’s own figures show that the number one form of anti-social behaviour identified by the public is… speeding.

[I have a theory that the reason why such a large proportion of cycling fatalities seem to involve time trial cyclists or cyclists on charity rides is that these are now the only two cycling groups left using roads which almost all other cyclists have abandoned out of fear. A secondary explanation is that both groups cycle much greater distances and spend much more time on roads than the average cyclist, thereby radically increasing their exposure to risk.]

The scandal continues of monstrously selfish car-addicted geriatric drivers who are physically unfit to drive but who are permitted to keep driving dangerously under a system which allows them to verify their own fitness to drive independent of any assessment by a third party.

These highly dangerous old fools kill time and time again but no government – least of all the current petrolhead ConDem regime – is interested in preventing this. The protection of killer drivers is institutionalised and seems likely to remain so since there appears to be no organisation campaigning on this issue.

An 87-year-old motorist with appalling eyesight who fatally injured a disabled woman while she was riding a mobility scooter has escaped serious punishment.

War veteran Raymond Hampshire had cataracts in both eyes and was unfit to be on the road because everything appeared ‘foggy’ to him.

He was driving home from a casino on a dark winter’s evening when he failed to see 43-year-old spina bifida sufferer Fiona Buckley and hit her scooter.

[So his gambling addiction was fed by his car addiction.]

She died in hospital six weeks later from multi-organ failure due to the injuries sustained in the accident.

Hampshire – who was one of Britain’s oldest drivers – admitted causing her death by careless driving.

But choosing to drive at night when you can barely see is not ‘careless’ it is conscious, wilful criminal negligence.

As usual, anyone who doesn’t dress up at night like a Christmas tree is regarded as fit for execution by a motorist:

But Judge Robert Moore took pity on the ex-soldier and gave him an absolute discharge after hearing that an accident expert regarded the victim as reckless for riding on the road in the dark on a black scooter with no lights or reflectors fitted.

The judge said: ‘Punishment is not appropriate, the fact of the conviction is the real punishment.’

Eh?

He found special reasons not to ban him from driving and only gave him three penalty points.

The judge said Hampshire’s level of culpability fell below sentencing guidelines and the motorist had accepted some responsibility for the death.

The controversial sentence angered Miss Buckley’s relatives. After the hearing, her aunt Audrey Heeley, 74, said: ‘We are all upset over the sentence.

‘I don’t think the judge appreciated that the wheelchair was only on the road momentarily so Fiona could get onto the pavement. We loved Fiona very much and will miss her. She was an inspiration to us all.’

Amazingly it emerges that this geriatric fuckwit also ran down the dead woman’s carer:

The accident happened in Sheffield around 10pm on December 6, 2008. Miss Buckley was riding in the road with her carer Kay Pilley, 46, walking just behind.

They were going in the same direction as Hampshire’s Ford Sierra. The former taxi driver, later told police he was doing about 20mph.

A former taxi driver? Say no more. And needless to say the driver’s assessment of his speed is as worthless as his own assessment of his fitness to drive.

He said: ‘Suddenly I heard this bang at the front of the car and wondered what it was. I never saw them at all. That was it.’

Hill’s article has since generated a long column of comments. Hill hasn’t answered my question, but has instead come up with an innovative suggestion for helping cyclists to become safer on our roads.

Being a Conservative, I am for less government interference in our lives not more but I wish they would make wearing helmets compulsory with an on the spot fine of £50 for non-compliance. The saving to the NHS would be spectacular.

Better still, why not ban cycling altogether? There would be a massive reduction in road casualty figures and the savings to the NHS would be spectacular.

Dawn Foster writes about the aggression and abuse which she receives as a woman cyclist, which she now blogs about:

Hundreds of women wrote me emails, responded to my blog and spoke to me on Twitter and told me they'd had identical experiences. They didn't tell me of every incident – they were too numerous – but they told me about their worst ones.

He hit his horn whilst behind me, whilst I was waiting in the cycle box at the traffic lights. As he turned at the junction alongside me, he continued to use his horn. At the next traffic lights, he rolled his window down to shout “You stupid fucking slut, get off the road and onto the pavement, you stupid bitch”. He was in his company vehicle, so rather than rise to his bait, I took my iPhone out and openly took a photo of his registration plate. For some reason this shut him up.

The company’s website is coy about supplying contact information but fortunately it can be found elsewhere. Wouldn’t it be just awful if senior staff at Cannon Hygiene were deluged with emails from cyclists?

My friend Julia and her friends have also started blog Hollaback London with motto "If you can't slap them, snap them!" where girls are encouraged to take photos of drivers and their registration plates and openly ridicule them on internet and calling up their companies (more often than not, the attackers would be van drivers) to complain. If you have a story to share, send it to Julia

R295 GDA large white space wagon-type hybrid with a notice on the back about leaving space for a wheelchair to be removed, the male driver going south along Hoe Street while chatting on a handheld mobile phone, August 19, 1.14 pm.

Yesterday afternoon I spotted the white male driver of an Ascham Homes van driving along Hoe Street in the direction of the Baker’s Arms, steering with his left hand while engrossed in a conversation on a mobile phone which he was holding in his right hand. Reg KW53 KRE, time 3.45 pm.

Businesses have ordered their street “rangers” to stop rogue riders amid fears that the Mayor's bike hire scheme will increase problems in central London. People in Holborn and Bloomsbury are being encouraged to report bad cycling to the wardens

The initiative has been launched by “inmidtown”, a business organisation representing 550 firms between the West End and the City of London.

Inmidtown, which is funded by a levy on the business rates of its members, works with Transport for London and Camden council.

Last year 200 cyclists were stopped over four days during Operation Responsible Cycling. Business leaders fear the arrival of Boris bikes — there are seven docking stations, holding up to 176 bikes, in the area — will make matters worse.

This business organisation, which is a public-private partnership with Camden Council, is making up its own rules of cycling conduct and not based on recognised authorities. Not only is this organisation allowed to part-privatise public space, it is also creating its own private rules of conduct.

The rangers will not, of course, be cracking down on rogue drivers (a phrase which, curiously, no journalist ever uses). I was in this very area on Monday and snapped a few examples of rogue drivers who deliberately drove into Advanced Stop Lines at red. Funnily enough they were all drivers working for businesses. Could we please have a list of the 550 firms involved in this, so that we can check on their drivers and the amount of clutter they may put unlawfully across pavements?